Does an art exhibition at Ottawa City Hall celebrate terrorism in the Palestinian territories? And, if so, terrorism by who, Palestinians or Israelis?

Works by Toronto-based artist Rehab Nazzal are in Karsh Masson Gallery in City Hall to June 22. They include photographs and videos that provide “traces” of the seemingly irreconcilable conflict in the Palestinian territories — which, depending on which side you’re on, are “disputed” or “occupied.”

The first sign of anything contentious is a sheet bearing city letterhead and posted to the door, declaring that art in the gallery is “selected by an independent, professional arts jury,” and not by the city. It’s an unusual disclaimer.

Then there’s the guest book. Except for the first few signatures and testaments, likely written by acquaintances of the artist during the recent opening, the comments are split between those who approve (“very interesting and eye-opening”) and those who don’t (“Is this why we pay taxes? Mediocrity at best. Completely one-sided view, not objective at all”).

Well, of course it’s subjective — it’s art. The viewer sees what the viewer will see, often regardless of the artist’s intent. The only thing the two sides agree upon in the guestbook is that the exhibition celebrates “terrorism” — though by whom? “This exhibition glorifies terrorism,” says one writer, who identifies as Israeli. Another visitor writes, “A wonderful exhibit of Zionist terrorism.” Sigh.

I don’t believe the exhibition glorifies terrorism, though it is provocative, starting with Nazzal’s title, Invisible, and her decision to limit her materials to “trace” elements of photo, video and audio, all of it with little or no context.

Nazzal was born in the territories, and lived there when Israeli forces moved in in 1967. She later moved to Canada, and lived in Ottawa before moving to Toronto. In an interview recently published on muslimlink.ca, she says, “Any art that speaks of the artist’s own experience has a high degree of honesty, and my work is about my experience, our experience.”

The art at City Hall includes a wall-sized mosaic of 1,700 photographs of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli guards at Negev Prison, with the faces or figures interspersed with black squares — representing, I assume, the “invisible” people who have died or disappeared. No information is provided, so viewers must fill the empty spaces with their own imaginations or prejudices.

Four videos are more provocative. One shows what seems to be a large funeral, or rally, it’s unclear. There’s no audio, but it’s plain to see that the masses of Palestinians are angry and protesting. Another video, titled Target, flashes the faces of Palestinians who purportedly were “assassinated” by Israeli missiles or bombs. Again, there is no context about who these people are, nor what they were doing.

Most contentious is the video Military Exercise in the Negev Prison, about a night time raid on Palestinian prisoners, in which a prisoner died and several hundred were injured. (Details of the raid vary, of course, depending on the news source.) Nazzal shows no pictures, only audio of prisoners and soldiers speaking and shouting, amid the sounds of breaking glass and obvious commotion. English subtitles are the only visual element, and they provide limited context.

Does an artist have a responsibility to provide context? No — though that opinion too is argumentative.

Nazzal chooses to speak in a language of visual traces, and is deliberately oblique. “In mounting these traces,” it says in the exhibition catalogue, “she stages a protest in honour of remembrance. She struggles against forgetting.”

What I see in all of this is a lament for a lost homeland, and a bitter, perhaps angry, elegy for those who have died in a long and seemingly hopeless conflict. What I don’t see is a celebration of terrorism, nor any call for more people to die.

Then again, art is subjective: the viewer sees what the viewer will see. Readers will do the same with this review.

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